World's Smallest

Given the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and the ever-increasing megapixel count of their onboard camera sensors, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the compact digital camera may have snapped its very last snap. Sony believes that its new Cyber-shot HX50V superzoom will make you think again. Claimed to be the world's smallest and lightest 30x zoom camera currently available, the low light sensitive 20-megapixel camera features both Wi-Fi and GPS, high-speed AutoFocus, optical image stabilization, and boasts an impressive battery life. Read More

Canon has revealed two new DSLRs – the EOS 100D and the EOS 700D (or Rebel SL1 and Rebel T5i depending on where you are in the world). Billed as the world’s smallest and lightest APS-C DSLR camera, the 100D still manages to pack in an 18 megapixel APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm) sensor and a touchscreen on the rear. The 700D is a more advanced, and traditionally-sized, entry-level model which can shoot at 5 fps, and has a wide 9-point all cross type AF system and touchscreen LCD. Read More

Instead of shelling out for a complete radio-controlled plane, why not just add a powered propeller and steerable rudder to a paper plane of your own? That’s the thinking behind PowerUp Toys’ PowerUp 3.0 kit. Now, Canada’s Plantraco MicroFlight has applied that same sort of thinking to blimps. The resulting Nanoblimp, billed as “the world’s smallest RC blimp,” uses a plain ol’ party-variety helium balloon as its gas envelope. Read More

ASUS has announced the forthcoming release of what is being hailed as the smallest router produced to date. The WL-330NUL Pocket Router is just a bit longer than an AA-sized battery, includes an integrated USB 2.0 connector and cable that fold into the side of the body, and offers both wired and wireless connectivity for your notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Read More

About this time last year, Lenovo made a bid for the title of creator of the world's smallest desktop PC, with the launch of the IdeaCentre Q180. Now, an equally diminutive replacement is making a grab for the very same title. The IdeaCentre Q190 is reported to offer up to 80 percent faster processing performance over last year's model, is available with double the system memory, and up to 1 TB of HDD storage. Read More

Research funded by the European Union has resulted in a new low-cost, fingernail-sized radar chip package that could be implemented in a variety of areas, including the automotive industry, robotics and smartphones. Described as “the smallest complete radar system in the world,” the chip package measures 8 x 8 mm, operates at 120 GHz, and can calculate the distance of an object up to around 3 meters away to an accuracy of within 1 mm. Read More

Here's one for gun collectors with an eye for detail. The SwissMiniGun C1ST is a double-action .09 caliber six-shooter that's just over two inches (5.5 cm) long weighing 0.7 oz (19.8 g). The level of detail is amazing – the Swiss gunsmiths behind the MiniGun are experienced in jewelry and watchmaking crafts, and have orders to produce works of art that happen to be fully functioning guns. And the price? We think you ought to sit down first ... Read More

Cellphones have come a long way since the models of the 1990’s, but if there is one area in which a brand-new iPhone 4S still cannot hope to compete with those venerable handsets, it is battery life. With this in mind, California-based company Pacific Productions has unveiled the JuiceBuddy, an iPhone and iPod Touch charger which is small enough to fit on a keyring. Read More

Generally speaking, companies developing suborbital manned vehicles brag about how much elbow room their spacecraft will provide passengers. They say there will be plenty of room to float around during the weightless portion of the flight, that there will be no fighting for windows, that passengers will comfortably endure the high-g portions of the flight ... and then there's Copenhagen Suborbitals' (CS) Tycho Brahe. Read More

Since creating the first contact-free palm vein authentication sensor in 2003, Fujitsu's biometric security solution has been getting smaller and smaller. Now, the company has developed a new system that's half the thickness of current offerings yet retains the same performance and accuracy levels as the latest commercially-available PalmSecure designs. The Japanese tech giant is claiming the title of the world's smallest and slimmest palm vein authentication sensor for its new creation and says that it will likely be headed for use in mobile products such as tablet computers, although there's currently no indication as to when that might be. Read More